Gray Alice

Her name was Gray Alice, and she might have been the fastest horse in the early west. She was, at least, much the fastest in the area where she ran, and there were some good horses there. The place was western Arkansas and northeastern Indian Territory.

During the last half of the 1800’s , horse breeders looked more and more to that area. Breeders from Kentucky and other southeastern states brought fine horses there and went back, year after year, to get individuals to upgrade their stock. Alice was probably the result of that practice, a horse acclimated to the west but with the blood of fine eastern horseflesh.

She was owned by the Starr farm but it is so long after her passing – almost a hundred years – that records of her lineage are no longer available. What does stay on, and makes good stories when old cronies talk of the past, is the legend of her victories. The stories were kept alive to a certain extent by a photograph of her in the lobby of an old hotel in the town near the Starr farm. She was a good looking horse with an airy grace.

When she began racing there were the usual wagers favoring other horses. Alice won. And she won and won and won. There is a story, not pinpointed as to date, that one of the last races she ran was against a horse much favored by people from Siloam Springs, Arkansas. They put up their money, their watches, their vehicles….anything for which they could find a taker. After the race they went home with out money, watches, vehicles, etc. Those who had wagered vehicles had to walk.

So it became impossible to get anyone to risk capital against Gray Alice and she was reitred from racing.

There is no explanation as to why she wasn’t taken to the eastern race tracks, or even abroad, as fine horses often were. The reason might be that she died young. She was fond of jumping, and one fence she jumped had a post standing a few feet beyond it. She came down on that, and died.

Originally published in The Western Horseman Magazine, July 1974, vol. 34. issue 7, p.145